Rays will be on the alert

SUNSHINE Coast Stingrays coach Toutai Kefu last week implored his forwards to step up to the challenge of Premier Rugby.

It worked, Stingrays captain Gareth Clouston said yesterday, pointing to the team’s 25-15 win against Easts as evidence.

The Stingrays face cellar-dweller Wests at Stockland Park today but it will not be a walk in the park for the Coast, having lost to the Bulldogs earlier this year.

Clouston said Kefu’s stern words helped the Stingrays to a much-needed win last weekend.

“He wanted us to harden up and be more physical,” he said.

“We did that and that’s how we won the game last week.

“The most impressive thing about it was everyone stepped up and played for 80 minutes.

“We kept that intensity up and even though they scored two tries in the second half, it wasn’t due to us falling asleep.”

Sunshine Coast has been strong at home this season but Clouston said his side could not take the Bulldogs lightly again after the two-point loss in round four.

Helping Wests’ cause is the expected return of Queensland number eight Scott Higginbotham, who this week was named in the Wallabies’ Tri Nations squad.

“When we played them earlier this year. it was the week after we beat Easts. We had won a few games against Gold Coast and Brothers and we were a bit over-confident,” he said.

“We went into the game expecting to win instead of concentrating on what was at hand.

“They played a really unstructured game and we didn’t react.”

The Stingrays have named an unchanged side for today’s match.

The front row of Haydn Hirsimaki, Ryan Freney and Shon Siemonek will be aiming to gain ascendancy in the scrums to allow the Rays’ potent backline to post the points. Tom Bird will play fullback and Tom Cox and Adam Gavegan will man the wings.

Clouston said having consistency in the starting line-up was a major factor heading into the back end of the season.

“It’s always good to have consistency – you don’t really want to change a winning side,” he said.

The Stingrays have only six matches left this season and are sitting outside the top four by three points.

They have a favourable run home, as only twice will they have to play a team above them on the ladder, when they travel to face Souths and Sunnybank.